The Estonian government decided last week in favour of a strategy that reduces CO2 emissions in Estonia by 75% by the year 2050 as compared to 1990; according to the Minister of the Environment, the trend could be in the direction of less polluting oil shale use, LETA/Eesti Päevaleht reports.

Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus-Rosimannus said in an
interview to Eesti Päevaleht that 75%
is a pretty ambitious goal for Estonia, because at the same time we must also
take into consideration the natural resources we use such as oil shale. The
latter, she says, is vitally necessary from the point of view of Estonia's
energy security.

Speaking of oil shale energy
industry, the environment minister said that the direction should be to
"squeeze out" more from oil shale. It takes less oil shale year after
year purely for electricity production, which is the most CO2 producing area.

"By the year 2050, our whole
oil shale sector should become a model of how a mindlessly polluting sector can
be redesigned into a branch that has reduced exhaust gases most," the
minister said.

This presumes besides the
development of technology of purification equipment also that burning the oil
shale is replaced with oil production and the resulting residue can be used in
electricity production.

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